The sharing of knowledge about carrying out surveys with the homeless population was highlighted on the second day of the “Showcase Workshop on Censuses of Population Experiencing Homelessness,” promoted by the IBGE this Tuesday (14).

The event aims to establish an overview of the experiences of carrying out these censuses throughout Brazil, involving everything from local initiatives, such as surveys conducted by municipalities, to state and national proposals. This sharing of experiments will be strategic in the methodological structuring of the 1st National Census of Population Experiencing Homelessness, in the planning stage by the IBGE.

The initiative involves the participation of managers, universities, social movements and international organizations. This Tuesday (14), the president of the IBGE, Marcio Pochmann, was present in person at the event.

“The IBGE welcomes everyone with open arms, due to the experience and trajectory you have, in this effort to build a Census that is unprecedented for Brazil. What we are doing here is not just a response to a Brazilian phenomenon. The result of all the work we will do, especially from the data collection next year, will serve as an example for the world. It is a very important effort,” highlighted Pochmann.

Challenges for operations

In the morning, municipal managers, university researchers, and participants from institutions and social movements that work on the subject were able to share their experiences about carrying out surveys with this population group.

The methodological challenges involved were discussed, from the elaboration of the concept that will be used to define those who can be considered homeless; defining the locations to be surveyed; up to the training of teams that will go to the field.

At one of the sessions, the experience of carrying out the Census of Population Experiencing Homelessness in the city of Belo Horizonte was presented. Participating in the debate were the professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Frederico Duarte Garcia, the representative of the Municipal Secretariat of Social Assistance and Human Rights of the City of Belo Horizonte, Lívia Ferreira Araújo Rosa, the representative of the Pastoral of the Archdiocese of Belo Horizonte, Claudenice Rodrigues Lopes, and the member of the National Movement of the Homeless Population of Minas Gerais, Rafael Roberto Fonseca da Silva.

Experience in Belo Horizonte

Professor Frederico Garcia, who has already participated in three censuses with the homeless population, detailed the main steps involved in carrying out the survey, as well as the challenges inherent to this type of data collection. The last one was held in 2022.

“The Census of Population Experiencing Homelessness is a transforming experience. It is a change in perspective that you experience in relation to things that scare you and experiences that are difficult for you to bear. You begin to live them spontaneously. Teams must be prepared, as there are different data collection shifts, and the challenges are different in each of these shifts,” explains him.

Garcia highlighted that help from the city administration is extremely important for the process, as well as from peer researchers, as they have street experience and know how to measure the risks involved. Moreover, the professor highlighted the challenges in defining the concept of the homeless population before the data collection began; the need to have efficient communication about the survey that will be carried out to increase engagement; in addition to establishing a prior mapping.

“You have to spend ten times more time thinking than executing. Mapping is the instrument that will provide security for the survey coordination and the survey coordinator that they are going to the required location. The mapping does not search for enumeration areas. It is much more complex. It involves knowing the dynamics of the people who are at each point,” explains him.

The representative of the Municipal Secretariat of Social Assistance and Human Rights at Belo Horizonte City Hall, Lívia Araújo, highlighted the importance of collecting data on the homeless population so that the municipality can develop public policies that serve this group, better understanding their demands.

“Knowing the public was essential and that is what we achieved based on the questionnaires that were applied. These figures have supported the decisions of the management body. When we talk about the population experiencing homelessness, we are talking about an issue that cuts across all public policies. The responsibility lies with social assistance, but it needs to be the common thread with other public policies. And the Census itself demonstrated this,” told him.

The representative of the Pastoral of the Archdiocese of Belo Horizonte, Claudenice Rodrigues Lopes, added that this type of census operation does not only occur with the participation of public offices, but of entities that already have work dedicated to the homeless population.

“The people on the street, more than just being counted, need to be seen. We have been following this struggle process for many years. The National Census will show data and clues for fundamental actions for municipalities, states, and the country. It is the possibility of breaking away a little from the logic that this homeless population lives by, which is the hygienist logic,” told him.

From this perspective, the member of the National Movement of Homeless Population of Minas Gerais, Rafael Silva, recalled the need for an integrated perspective to address the reality of this population.
“To understand this process, we need acceptance and listening. The National Census will provide an answer to this. We need to be careful to dialogue with municipalities and states and involve people with homeless trajectories to be able to understand and facilitate this process as a whole. This way, we can have a win-win result.”

Surveys in the Northeast

Right after that, a second session dealt with experiences already carried out in the cities of Salvador, Recife and Fortaleza.
Professors from the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE) Otávio Augusto Alves dos Santos, Humberto da Silva Miranda, and Raquel Fernandes participated in the debate. In addition to them, the professor at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Lucas Vezedek, the municipal secretary of Human Rights and Social Development of the City of Fortaleza, Iracema de Oliveira Machado, and the member of the National Movement for the Population Experiencing Homelessness of Bahia, Renildo da Silva Santos, were present.

The UFBA professor highlighted the need to thoroughly study the field to be surveyed before beginning the data collection. “We called on all people in the city who spoke or worked directly or indirectly with the homeless population. We held discussion groups to begin defining the concept to be used,” highlighted him.

Fortaleza has already carried out three surveys of the homeless population. At the meeting, the municipal secretary highlighted the lessons learned by the management office after the surveys. The last one occurred in 2021.
“We built the questionnaire and our actions at the same time. To cover a greater number of people experiencing homelessness, we decided that people who were overcoming homelessness would be our partners in the census. This made it easier for us to enter the spaces. We did not go to communities and occupations, but we stayed on the street, spreading our surveys at the same time, for four days. It is a great difficulty not to duplicate people when counting, as some of them circulate in the territory,” said the secretary.

The last Census allowed the City Hall to see points that needed to be improved in the data collection.
"We assessed that we did not include other perspectives and that that Census was already born with a certain delay, as we had not thought about a broad process of who those people were. We didn´t count children, teenagers. We could have advanced in other areas and soon felt that it was necessary to redo this work. We were preparing for this until the news came that the IBGE could assist in this work,” said her, referring to the National Census of Population Experiencing Homelessness.

In the case of the capital of Pernambuco, the last survey of the homeless population took place in October 2022. During the debate, UFRPE professor Otávio Augusto Alves detailed the steps involved, highlighting that the presence of teams in the territories took into account the specificities of each region, the dynamics of the city, the survey support groups, and the communities surveyed.

“Recife already had a tradition of carrying out this count periodically. The university has arrived to improve, making this process more participatory. We found the path a little paved,” told him.
Also from the UFRPE, Professor Humberto da Silva Miranda highlighted the need not to neglect children and teenagers who are part of the homeless population.

“This national Census cannot reproduce an ‘adult-centric’ perspective, in the sense that there are several methodologies and advances in techniques for listening to children and teenagers. The Census of people experiencing homelessness is not just technical and bureaucratic. It brings a whole political and ethical perspective that needs to be taken into account. Boys and girls need to have a voice in this Census. They bring with them another vision of the city,” highlighted Miranda.